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Life under the bell curve

July 3, 2006 — EclecticGeek

Wanted to blog a bit about normal distribution, the Gaussian curve, the bell curve (pick your favorite name). I spent most of yesterday reading about normal distribution and clinical studies and variables and skewing. Rekindled memories of my Biostatistics class. Hard to believe I understood all that stuff at one point in my life. Now, it’s just Greek to me. 😀

My point here is that (in general) with treatments given to a large enough sample of patients, a Gaussian curve is produced. Keeping that curve in mind in terms of therapeutic experience:

Some patients will fall at one end and be helped optimally (positive).

Some will fall at the opposite end and not benefit (negative).

Most will fall under the bell within a range of therapeutic benefit.

This, in fact, is the basis for an upcoming post on my experience with Lupron.

Here are some links with additional information about normal distribution: